Drop Dead Studios Ask Me Anything #3

[Kaouse]

Not sure if this is the right FAQ to put this question in, but oh well.

Q334. If a Soulknife trades away their weapon and armor proficiency for a martial tradition, would they no longer be proficient with their own mindblade?

[ImmortalTimothy]

Q335
The Lichling Archetype for the Soul Weaver replaces the Channel Energy Class Feature and gains the Touch of Corruption ability which allows them to spend two uses of Touch of Corruption to channel negative energy as a cleric of the same level.

Spoiler: Touch of Corruption

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Beginning at 2nd level, a lichling may touch a target and fill it with negative energy.

Each day she can use this ability a number of times equal to 1/2 her soul weaver level + her Charisma modifier. Using this ability is a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity, but may be used on herself as a swift action. The lichling must make a touch attack against an unwilling target. If successful, this ability deals 1d6 points of damage per 2 soul weaver levels to the target. If used on an undead target, this instead heals the undead 1d6 hit points per 2 soul weaver levels. This ability is modified by any feat, spell, or effect that specifically works with the lay on hands paladin class feature.

For example, the Extra Lay On Hands feat grants a lichling 2 additional uses of the touch of corruption class feature.

A lichling may spend a feat to gain an antipaladin cruelty, using her soul weaver level as her effective antipaladin level for this purpose.

The lichling may also channel negative energy as a cleric by spending 2 uses of her touch of corruption. The lichling uses her soul weaver level as her effective cleric level when channeling negative energy. This is a Charisma-based ability.

Does this ability still count as the Channel Energy class feature for feats? It seems that was the intention as it mirrors the antipaladin's ability of the same name (as well as this archetype does not replace the Channel Mastery ability or other abilities/features of that nature), however the antipaladin still has the Channel Energy class feature as its own separate feature and most, if not all, channel energy feats require the Class Feature. My intention is not to be pedantic, however this could come up in the future as an argument.

Spoiler: Channel Mastery

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At 8th level, a soul weaver may spend a soul in conjunction with channeling energy to add the benefits of any one feat which has channel energy as a prerequisite to that channeling. The soul weaver must meet all other prerequisites of that feat to gains its benefits in this manner.

Thank you for any insights into this matter.

[ElFi]

Some questions on Surreal feats:

Q336. Is Shadowstuff Armament explicitly limited to any weapon you can consider "equipped", as the text seems to indicate, or can it be used to create any weapon you're proficient with? Mostly I'm curious if said feat can be used to create siege engines, which is mechanically pointless but damn cool for flavor purposes, in my opinion.

Q337. Do ongoing effects created by the benefits of the Shadow Magic feat cease to exist when the feat's effect runs out or the effect's duration does (or you stop concentrating on it)? I guess this is a relevant question for any ability that lets you pull out new magic talents on the fly, but I was specifically curious about this one since any spherecaster class can use it.

Q338. What's the action requirement on Shadowy Slay? Lack of clarification classifies it as a standard action per the normal rules, which is both bad and nonsensical, but the effect's wording suggests it's either done as part of the action made to attack with an illusion, or a free action triggered by attacking with an illusion.

[Ssalarn]

Not sure if this is the right FAQ to put this question in, but oh well.

Q334. If a Soulknife trades away their weapon and armor proficiency for a martial tradition, would they no longer be proficient with their own mindblade?

A334 Soulknives are not normally proficient with all martial weapons or an exotic weapon and cannot normally trade their proficiencies for a martial tradition.

[Minion #6]

Q339: Can a sage - ki blaster or otherwise - vital strike with their chi gong?

[AlienFromBeyond]

Q340: Is it intended that the Slowed condemnation from the Grand Purifier archetype has no save? There's no way I would ever use anything else. I'm guessing it's supposed to have a Reflex negates since the other two are Will and Fort? Even with that, paralyzed is far stronger than dazed, and Reflex is the best save to be targeting with such a debuff as well!

[Kaouse]

A334 Soulknives are not normally proficient with all martial weapons or an exotic weapon and cannot normally trade their proficiencies for a martial tradition.

I know, but the Gestalt rules say that if one half of the gestalt trades away proficiency, then the other half has to do the same.

I guess my question is, do you only trade away proficiency in "all martial weapons / 1 or more exotic weapons," or do you trade away everything under the "Weapons and Armor Proficiency" section?

[CactusAir]

I know, but the Gestalt rules say that if one half of the gestalt trades away proficiency, then the other half has to do the same.

I guess my question is, do you only trade away proficiency in "all martial weapons / 1 or more exotic weapons," or do you trade away everything under the "Weapons and Armor Proficiency" section?

Pedantic clarification: You trade away everything under there except for simple weapons, light armor and bucklers. :P

This may be a design flaw - proficiency with the baseline shape of your mindblade should be built into the mindblade/bolt/arrow class feature, and not be part of the W&AP sections. we should send them an angry letter. :P



SUDDEN STRIKE EDIT:

Q339: Can a sage - ki blaster or otherwise - vital strike with their chi gong?

Q339 Corollary: It's more thorough to ask if the chi-gong counts as a weapon for all purposes, and if Chi gong die all count as weapon damage die. Since y'know, that's a pretty pertinent question for say, using the Dual Wield Sphere's Asynchronous Swing to potentially give your other hand's weapon way higher damage die. Basically the same question, but Vital Strike is not the only implementation would be affected by a ruling.

(also, this would be a good time to clarify is chi Gong is a valid weapon for gaining Panache swashbuckler - by RAW it is, but that may go against RAI)



As a compromise solution, you can treat only the first d6 as being the Weapon's Damage Die, and the subsequent d6's as bonus damage, imitating how the Pattern Disruption ability of the Cryptic works. It's clearly not RAW, but it might mollify a DM.





Q 341:
Is the +1 BAB from the Conscript's sphere specialization supposed to stack with BAB from other sources if you multiclass, or should we take the wording:

"may treat his base attack bonus as being equal to his conscript level +1 when determining the benefits and effects of that sphere; if a sphere would grant effects based on the user’s Hit Dice instead of their base attack bonus, the conscript may treat his total Hit Dice as being equal to his conscript level +1 for the purposes of determining what benefits he receives."

as indicating that you have to single class conscript to maintain the benefit?

[Kaouse]

Actually I just realized that the Gestalt rules aren't actually cannon, plus there's a corollary about martial classes (even non-Spheres-using martial classes) gaining up to 2 extra discipline talents so long as backstory or character theme justify it. Pretty sure "being able to use the main class feature of the class" should be justification enough to let me keep mindblade proficiency.

[Ssalarn]

As a compromise solution, you can treat only the first d6 as being the Weapon's Damage Die, and the subsequent d6's as bonus damage, imitating how the Pattern Disruption ability of the Cryptic works. It's clearly not RAW, but it might mollify a DM.

That actually was RAW at one point, I'm not sure why/when it was changed. I'll need to dig through the design notes and/or see if the others remember anything about that.

Q 341:
Is the +1 BAB from the Conscript's sphere specialization supposed to stack with BAB from other sources if you multiclass, or should we take the wording:

"may treat his base attack bonus as being equal to his conscript level +1 when determining the benefits and effects of that sphere; if a sphere would grant effects based on the user’s Hit Dice instead of their base attack bonus, the conscript may treat his total Hit Dice as being equal to his conscript level +1 for the purposes of determining what benefits he receives."

as indicating that you have to single class conscript to maintain the benefit?

A341 I think we might have answered this previously, but that's intentional. The benefit applies only to single-classed conscripts (or conscripts who take a 1 level dip into a mid or low BAB class).

[TehT]

I'm DMing a fairly fresh campaign, in said campaign we have a Soaring Blade Armorist and I have some concerns and/or questions.

Let me first set the scene:

• At Caster Level 3, the Telekinetic Size Limit is Tiny.

• With Poweful Telekinesis, the Size Limit is now Small.

• With Dancing weapon, you treat weapons as one size category smaller for purposes of Telekinesis, you can now lift a Medium sized weapon.

• A medium sized weapon is a 2h weapon suited for a medium sized creature.

• According to the table:weapon sizes, a one handed weapon is one size smaller.

• Large one handed weapon (katana) does 2d8 damage

• With Forceful Telekinesis, your weapons deal damage as if they were one size larger, the katana turns into 3d8
  

There's more stuff down the line such as doing a full attack as a standard action and getting an extra full bab attack if you split the weight limit into two weapons of one size smaller, but the damage progression at the moment seems to put most of my other characters to shame atm, is this the intended mechanic for Soaring Blade? If so, how would you suggest I resolve it, are there any balancing features I've overlooked?

[Mcdt2]

I'm DMing a fairly fresh campaign, in said campaign we have a Soaring Blade Armorist and I have some concerns and/or questions.
<snip> If so, how would you suggest I resolve it, are there any balancing features I've overlooked?

Disclaimer: Not a dev.

Firstly, by Dancing Weapon, did you mean the Flying Daggers Arsenal Trick? Dancing Weapon doesn't affect the item's effective size, just allows it to count as a melee weapon and adds casting mod to damage. Otherwise, I think you have everything right.

Let's make some comparisons.

Spoiler: Assumptions: Character level 3, 18 in all relevant stats.

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Our Soaring Blade can attack at Close range, with +8 atk vs normal AC, dealing 3d8+5 (avg 18.5). Investment: TK sphere (free), Powerful TK, Dancing Weapon (free), Forceful TK, Flying Daggers. 100% of your talents and arsenal tricks thus far.

An Incanter with Destruction specialization also attacks at Close range at +5 vs touch AC, dealing 3d6, treating 1's/2's as 3's (avg 12), can spend 1 SP to deal 5d6 instead (avg 18). Less damage, can't make attacks of opportunity. Investment: Destruction (free), Greater Blast, Crafted Blast. About 28% (2/7) of your talents, leaving plenty of room to catch up with blast shapes, or a blast type instead of Crafted Blast (less damage and probably a different type, but rider effects), and can easily beat their range.

A Berserker (Barbarian with SoM archetype) wielding a +1 greatsword makes melee attacks at +11 vs normal AC, dealing 2d6+15 (avg 21). Investment: Raging, Berserker sphere (free), focus expended on brutal strike, 2k for greatsword. 50% of talents (gained at expense of of rage powers), but inflicts battered and possible other penalties with (exertion) talents.

A Conscript with Sniper specialization and a mwk composite longbow (+4) makes ranged attacks (200' increment) at +8 atk vs normal AC, dealing 1d8+2d10+6 (avg 21.5). Investment: Sniper sphere (free), focus expended on deadly shot, move action on precision shots, weapon. 0% of talents expended. I suggest spending the rest on Scout for stealth and precision damage, or Beastmastery for a pet to tank and deal more damage.

Sure, the Soaring Blade is powerful and a useful addition to the party. But it seems in line with what the others can do, and each fills a distinct niche. Divided Mind and later stuff allows more attacks, but so does the Incanter taking Energy Orb/Sphere, or the Conscript branching out to Barrage. The Berserker lacks in AoE options, but its single target damage will grow ever faster.

More concerning to me is the idea of using Telekinesis with the Easy Focus boon, which I think should allow bludgeon attacks as a move action on subsequent turns? Haven't crunched numbers on that yet, but in a current game a fellow player is considering using that to make both destructive blasts and TK full attacks every round, which is mildly horrifying to consider.

[EldritchWeaver]

I feel, you are leaving out a few options to increase damage, when going for blasters.

An Incanter with Destruction specialization also attacks at Close range at +5 vs touch AC, dealing 3d6, treating 1's/2's as 3's (avg 12), can spend 1 SP to deal 5d6 instead (avg 18). Less damage, can't make attacks of opportunity. Investment: Destruction (free), Greater Blast, Crafted Blast. About 28% (2/7) of your talents, leaving plenty of room to catch up with blast shapes, or a blast type instead of Crafted Blast (less damage and probably a different type, but rider effects), and can easily beat their range.

Gather Energy is a must. Effectively trading move actions for spell points helps to keep your expendure down, while still dealing full damage. Orb Expert + Explosive Orb to get a similar result for your "fireballs" (which cover several enemies at once, so damage output increases), although the cost is 3/4 of your area. Which means, that you need at least a CL 10 to cover 4 squares.

[Saperaud]

Q 342: Can you as the Impaler make movement to change your reach without succeeding on the Str check? Say if you Impale an adjacent foe and then 5ft away because you have Reach as well(through Polearm Mastery), or even walking around a creature that you've Impaled.

On the spot I ruled it as a no as the rules state you have to make a Str check to move at half speed, but makes no mention of being able to move at normal speed as long as you keep the opponent in melee.

[Funinyourgame]

Hello again. Still having problems with the Creation sphere balance.
Objects made of stone or harder substances deal double damage + Create momentum with a huge object = 6d6 vs Touch AC (Except vs Colossal)
Acidic creation add in 1d6+1d6/2CL
8th LVL Incanter can deal (With no items boosting CL) 6d6+4d6 acid vs touch costing him 0 SP every turn.
That is if you decide to just deal damage, you can create stone/iron walls to block direct attacks/spells/line of effect and all the other controls you can do that would still cost 0 points and out of combat stuff that makes any plot/trap almost useless without forcing a DM flat(Which I hate doing).

Q343: I've houseruled (minimum: 1) if my player is using talents when creating (Not the Core Create). Does it sounds resonnable when you see that a Destruction Focused sphere user can achieve that damage at 9th level (With Gather Energy) and can do much less control (Which would cost him spell points)?

Q344: Does anyone have a solution to "balance" the endless+limitless Creation sphere?

My only other solutions would be to tailor encounters to resist him specificly, but it would make it a boring encounter for him (Keep in mind, with life, I don't have much free time to do it perfectly) or I just let it as it is and it becomes boring for me because none of my encounter can really be a danger (Not talking about killing players on purpose, but simply making it worth putting some efforts or having some sort of risk)

[Mcdt2]

I feel, you are leaving out a few options to increase damage, when going for blasters.

Gather Energy is a must. Effectively trading move actions for spell points helps to keep your expendure down, while still dealing full damage. Orb Expert + Explosive Orb to get a similar result for your "fireballs" (which cover several enemies at once, so damage output increases), although the cost is 3/4 of your area. Which means, that you need at least a CL 10 to cover 4 squares.

True, I overlooked Gather Energy, which helps the incanter build significantly. Another fun option is Energy Rift (no SP cost for an admittedly inferior effect, basically a line that starts at any point). Energy Nova and Mutable Blast are also free AoO, though requires you to be fairly close to the enemy to use.

I was specifically ignoring feats (since the TK build didn't have any it was using), though, which is why the Barbarian didn't have Power Attack, which would have boosted damage even higher. I also was thinking in terms of Unchained Rage, but I suppose the Str boost from normal rage should multiply on a 2H weapon. So with PA/normal rage, should be +9 atk, 2d6+22 (avg 29).

My point being that damage boosting is trivial, and with less restrictions or investment than the Soaring Blade put into it. Of course, telekinesis and armorist alike have more advantages than just pure DPR, as well.

[AlienFromBeyond]

8th LVL Incanter can deal (With no items boosting CL) 6d6+4d6 acid vs touch costing him 0 SP every turn.

Acidic Creation uses 1 spell point though. Also note that even with Created Momentum the object needs to fall at least 75 ft. to get the damage multiplier (which stacks with the stone/hard material one aka to x3 total not x4) which means at least -6 to hit (as a full caster with half BAB, this is a relevant penalty at these levels even vs touch AC). At least I'm pretty sure the intent was that the range increment penalty is based on the distance fallen, not the distance from the caster to the target. Could have sworn there was a clarification on that in the book, but I can't find it now...

If you wanted to nerf rock dropping further, you could make the range increment smaller to ramp up the attack penalty more aggressively, or simply change at what point it hits his normal AC vs touch AC.

[EldritchWeaver]

Hello again. Still having problems with the Creation sphere balance.
Objects made of stone or harder substances deal double damage + Create momentum with a huge object = 6d6 vs Touch AC (Except vs Colossal)
Acidic creation add in 1d6+1d6/2CL
8th LVL Incanter can deal (With no items boosting CL) 6d6+4d6 acid vs touch costing him 0 SP every turn.
That is if you decide to just deal damage, you can create stone/iron walls to block direct attacks/spells/line of effect and all the other controls you can do that would still cost 0 points and out of combat stuff that makes any plot/trap almost useless without forcing a DM flat(Which I hate doing).

Q343: I've houseruled (minimum: 1) if my player is using talents when creating (Not the Core Create). Does it sounds resonnable when you see that a Destruction Focused sphere user can achieve that damage at 9th level (With Gather Energy) and can do much less control (Which would cost him spell points)?

Q344: Does anyone have a solution to "balance" the endless+limitless Creation sphere?

My only other solutions would be to tailor encounters to resist him specificly, but it would make it a boring encounter for him (Keep in mind, with life, I don't have much free time to do it perfectly) or I just let it as it is and it becomes boring for me because none of my encounter can really be a danger (Not talking about killing players on purpose, but simply making it worth putting some efforts or having some sort of risk)

A343 & 344:

First of all, let me check if you calculated everything correctly. What do you mean with "I've houseruled (minimum: 1) if my player is using talents when creating (Not the Core Create)"? Employing a talent to create different shapes or materials? If no, I don't know what it could mean and some of the text may not be applicable. Also, how do you get 0 SP in the first place? Do you use Practiced Creation? If yes, that would mean a full-round action the very least. Also, it costs 1 SP to use the create effect in the first place. Then you need to concentrate to keep the creation in existence or pay another 1 SP. Not a problem for an attack. Acidic Creation costs also 1 SP. So I calculate 2 SP (or 1 SP with Practiced Creation) for 6d6 + 5d6 acid damage (together 11d6). Since that is a huge object, I would say that it is fair to attack all characters inside 3x3 squares. You have possibly 9 Medium-sized victims, for a potential 54d6 + 45d6 acid damage (together 99d6). (You could use Divided Creation to split that up, but then a single missile does 2d6 + 5d6 acid damage.)

If you would create a wall, then with a huge object, you could create 8 times 10 ft. x 10 ft. wall segments, but those are just on inch thick. Those can be useful to divide and conquer, but unless you plan to concentrate the entire time, you have to pay 1 SP with Practiced Creation (assuming you leave out the acid - if not, increase cost by 1 SP). If you concentrate, then if the wall becomes mostly useless (assuming the enemy destroyed parts of it - possible with a well placed Explosive Orb and even with full hardness at this level) you can cease concentrating to do other things (like recasting the wall). But unless you take the Easy Focus boon, the concentration effort stops you from doing anything useful. Unless you precast e.g. Energy Sphere. And if you use Easy Focus, you are prevented from using Practiced Creation or Gather Energy and are limited to options, which cost SP or do not do CL damage.

In comparison, a Destruction focused Incanter (with sphere focus Destruction + Admixture Specialization) takes Gather Energy. Thanks to +1 CL to Destruction and GE, he can output 9d6+4 damage as a full-round action for 0 SP. Which is effectively 1d6 short compared to an option, which still costs 1 SP. If we do spend the SP to use Explosive Orb (Orb Expert would be certainly nice for doing that with 0 SP, but then with CL 9 we are limited to a 5-ft. square, which doesn't help with damage increase via AoE), then we have a 15-ft. radius (would be 20 with CL 10). That should be 24 squares (nearly 5x5, meaning Colossal) for a potential 216d6 damage. Which is more than double what your Creation base method could do. Granted, Explosive Orb has a Ref save, so people could avoid half (or full with evasion) damage, but you need to hit with touch AC in the first place to get damage with creation.

For battle field control, Destruction has Energy Wall. For 1 SP, you create a 20 ft high wall, which is 20 ft. long per each CL. So 4x as much area as Creation does. It also lasts automatically 1 round/CL. It also does damage for things passing through, which - while not blocking line of sight and effect directly - can at least destroy projectiles automatically. With Gather Energy, the cost is 0 SP. If you have Selective Blast, at least one melee guy can go through the wall with no damage, which opens up other tactics. If you employ Admixture, then you can deal both damage and battle field control at once. It's possible to use both Gather Energy and Admixture for 0 SP, but this takes 1 full round, so at least in the opening round it costs 1 SP or 1 point from the admixture pool. I like Crystal Blast and Shrapnel Blast in particular.

So all in all, I can't see how you get to a "endless+limitless Creation sphere", at least not when using Acidic Creation. Without it, but using Practiced Creation, you might get 54d6 if you are lucky. If you are just attacking a single target, then it is 6d6 and Destruction can do better. Even with AoE from Explosive Orb and using Orb Expert for 0 SP, Destruction's scaling will overtake Creation, but it does only at CL 20 for covered area. Damage-wise, at CL 15, Destruction does 4x15d6 (when using Orb Expert), which is together 60d6. At CL 16, Creation makes a jump to 16x8d6=128d6, while Destruction only get 64d6. That's only temporarily, though. In play, the levels where you have a CL 8 or 9 or 16 to 19 are short compared to the rest and a blaster will be able to spend 1 SP for full AoE relatively easily, when it actually matters. Also, Mutable Blast is here even a better option, if you can start the attack in melee range with no problem (compared to the ranged Creation). It can cover 9 squares at CL 8, so it is on par with the number of potential victims and can cover the same shapes as Creation does. And it still scales better than Creation.

If we add a Sorcerer level into the mix (using Orc bloodline for +1 per damage die), along with a converted bloodline mutation to get another +1 per damage die, Destruction blows Creation out of the water.

Edit: Small correction of Explosive Orb two paragraphs above.

Also note that even with Created Momentum the object needs to fall at least 75 ft. to get the damage multiplier (which stacks with the stone/hard material one aka to x3 total not x4) which means at least -6 to hit (as a full caster with half BAB, this is a relevant penalty at these levels even vs touch AC).

Since Funinyourgame only use 6d6 and not 9d6, we can assume that he only uses the "falling object never deals half damage" part of Created Momentum, which would allow to circumvent the penalty to hit.

[Funinyourgame]

A343 & 344:

First of all, let me check if you calculated everything correctly. What do you mean with "I've houseruled (minimum: 1) if my player is using talents when creating (Not the Core Create)"? Employing a talent to create different shapes or materials? If no, I don't know what it could mean and some of the text may not be applicable.

That is what I did, if my player is using a talent like Expended Material, divided creation, distant creation, etc. I apply a minimum 1 SP cost.
Normally, the rule written is "reduce the spell point cost by 1 (to a minimum of 0)"

Also, how do you get 0 SP in the first place? Do you use Practiced Creation? If yes, that would mean a full-round action the very least. Also, it costs 1 SP to use the create effect in the first place. Then you need to concentrate to keep the creation in existence or pay another 1 SP. Not a problem for an attack. Acidic Creation costs also 1 SP. So I calculate 2 SP (or 1 SP with Practiced Creation)

You forgot Master of creation
Starting at 3rd level, any create effect you perform costs 1 fewer spell point than normal (to a minimum of 0). This spell point reduction is not applied to the creation of a casing for a creature.

For 6d6 + 5d6 acid damage (together 11d6). Since that is a huge object, I would say that it is fair to attack all characters inside 3x3 squares. You have possibly 9 Medium-sized victims, for a potential 54d6 + 45d6 acid damage (together 99d6). (You could use Divided Creation to split that up, but then a single missile does 2d6 + 5d6 acid damage.)

This is another way of calculating Damage, I usually have my monsters splits or have only 1 big monster. But it does make sense in for a total dice possible.

If you would create a wall, then with a huge object, you could create 8 times 10 ft. x 10 ft. wall segments, but those are just on inch thick. Those can be useful to divide and conquer, but unless you plan to concentrate the entire time, you have to pay 1 SP with Practiced Creation (assuming you leave out the acid - if not, increase cost by 1 SP). If you concentrate, then if the wall becomes mostly useless (assuming the enemy destroyed parts of it - possible with a well placed Explosive Orb and even with full hardness at this level) you can cease concentrating to do other things (like recasting the wall). But unless you take the Easy Focus boon, the concentration effort stops you from doing anything useful. Unless you precast e.g. Energy Sphere. And if you use Easy Focus, you are prevented from using Practiced Creation or Gather Energy and are limited to options, which cost SP or do not do CL damage.

Again Master of Creation Allow it to be reduced by 1 (minimum 0) and nothing is written that it doesn't stack with Practiced Creation.
You can add in Larger Creation without acidic creation to have a 16 times 10x10 Iron wall (Since expended material doesn't add any SP)

In comparison, a Destruction focused Incanter (with sphere focus Destruction + Admixture Specialization) takes Gather Energy. Thanks to +1 CL to Destruction and GE, he can output 9d6+4 damage as a full-round action for 0 SP. Which is effectively 1d6 short compared to an option, which still costs 1 SP. If we do spend the SP to use Explosive Orb (Orb Expert would be certainly nice for doing that with 0 SP, but then with CL 9 we are limited to a 5-ft. square, which doesn't help with damage increase via AoE), then we have a 15-ft. radius (would be 20 with CL 10). That should be 24 squares (nearly 5x5, meaning Colossal) for a potential 216d6 damage. Which is more than double what your Creation base method could do. Granted, Explosive Orb has a Ref save, so people could avoid half (or full with evasion) damage, but you need to hit with touch AC in the first place to get damage with creation.

Touch AC is rarely a problem. Since most encounter with high Tough AC also have high Ref so both Destruction and Creation would have the same trouble.
Even if your 216d6 looks impressive, it is still individually 9d6 for 1SP vs 11d6 for 0SP

For battle field control, Destruction has Energy Wall. For 1 SP, you create a 20 ft high wall, which is 20 ft. long per each CL. So 4x as much area as Creation does. It also lasts automatically 1 round/CL. It also does damage for things passing through, which - while not blocking line of sight and effect directly - can at least destroy projectiles automatically. With Gather Energy, the cost is 0 SP. If you have Selective Blast, at least one melee guy can go through the wall with no damage, which opens up other tactics. If you employ Admixture, then you can deal both damage and battle field control at once. It's possible to use both Gather Energy and Admixture for 0 SP, but this takes 1 full round, so at least in the opening round it costs 1 SP or 1 point from the admixture pool. I like Crystal Blast and Shrapnel Blast in particular.

As explain before, the Wall size would be the same in the end with Larger Creation, but Energy wall would be a better option. That is if we ignore Creating Slippery or Dangerous Terrain which would still be reduce to 0SP and create an extra control. Acidic Grease would be very powerfull at 0 SP

So all in all, I can't see how you get to a "endless+limitless Creation sphere", at least not when using Acidic Creation.

A player could Destroy any wall/door at 0SP, protect himself and his party from many traps by creating a wall between them and a door (Regardless if there is a trap) and overcome many obstacles. That is only with the basic abilities available and assuming the player as some imagination.
And those example are from experience and I was forced to use DM flat (Which I hate doing) to prevent some of the player's plan that would have completly ignore a huge part donjon (if not the whole donjon).
And all of that is without adding the Enhanced Creation (Dual Sphere) Which he took and can add even more possiblities at a simple 1 extra SP.

So the First question as not been answered. The damage itself is resonnable, but the 0SP cost for it sound bad for balance (Destruction seems to have the same issue after comparing). Is it a bad idea to have House ruled "Minimum 1 SP" if using a talent (Not applied to the Core Create ability) for Creation

The second question still need help, since Creation is limited only by a player's imagination, it is very hard to say "you can't" without using DM Flat which is very bad in general. I still want to reward creative use of abilities, but there is some lines needed and I don't have a good solution right now.

[viperwolf306]

Q345
So I’m wondering if it’s possible to make a magic item that has a normal form (such as a gem), But can posse a weapon.

[fye121]

Q346

When you use the creation sphere to attack or create slippery surface, does the target can use it spell resistance ?

[ImmortalTimothy]

Q347

I was wondering what the status of the Gear of Power handbook was at? Is there an estimated timeline on when it should be completed? There are a lot of cool ideas in there and I am excited for the finished product.

Thank you.

[Manyasone]

Q348: how would you devs decide skill choice with spheres classes concerning consolidated skills?

[stack]

Q348: how would you devs decide skill choice with spheres classes concerning consolidated skills?

Can you clarify the question?

[Manyasone]

Can you clarify the question?

Yeah. As I read my question it does come over as pretty chaotic. If I was to use the unchained consolidated skills system in my games how would I port the spheres classes into the system? Wing it? Or do you have something in mind concerning this?

[Rokku]

Q349: The skill ranks that a Soul Eidolon gets from a Mirrored Soul Summoner have to be in the same skills the Summoner has, correct? If the Summoner buys Diplomacy, the Soul Eidolon gets Diplomacy, etc?

(I'm pretty sure it works that way but if it *doesn't* that would certainly help relieve the "why does summoner only get 2 skill points" issue.)

[Skaia]

Q:350

If a target makes their save on a blast shapes save (such as a successful reflex save on explosive orb) do they still take the rider effects from the blast type used and/or any admixture effects applied to it?

[Blackfoxx]

Q351

Does anybody have the info for the original version of the sage or at least remember the details of all the things it could do with the Heal skill. Been trying to rebuild it from memory in conjunction with the current Sage's abilities, but have gotten stumped.

Thank you in advance

[stack]

Q:350

If a target makes their save on a blast shapes save (such as a successful reflex save on explosive orb) do they still take the rider effects from the blast type used and/or any admixture effects applied to it?

A350: most blast types specify the additional effects apply to creatures that take damage. The other couple say affected creatures. Either way, taking half damage still applies the rider.

[NomGarret]

A350: most blast types specify the additional effects apply to creatures that take damage. The other couple say affected creatures. Either way, taking half damage still applies the rider.

Unless it’s one of the blast types, like air and alkali, which specifically say only on a hit or failed save?